Horse-detacher



(No Model.) I

D. P. SLOAN. HORSE DETAUHER.

No. 448,272. Patented Mar. 17, 1891.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID F. SLOAN, OF MATTAPAN, MASSACHUSETTS.

HORSE-DETACHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 448,272, dated March 17, 1891. Application filed June 26, l890. Serial No. 356,809- (No model.)

T0 to whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DAVID F. SLOAN, of Mattapan, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Horse-Detacher, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an improved horsedetacher, and has for its object to provide a simple and durable device adapted for and capable of attachment to any shaft, and so constructed that the moment an animal becomes unmanageable the driver may without trouble sever all connection between the barness and the shaft and allow the animal to escape, and whereby the shafts may be held in an elevated position and manipulated to guide the vehicle until its momentum is overcome.

Another object of the invention is to dispense with the necessity of traces and the whiffletree, and provide a means whereby the device will be capable of a compensating movement similar to that of awhiffletree, and also a means whereby the device will be attached exclusively to the harness.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures and letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the device, illustrated as applied to one side of a shaft. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the device detached from the shaft; and Fig. 3 is an end view of the device, the shaft being in transverse section.

The device may be said to consist of two main sections A and A, the section A being adapted for attachment to one of the thills or shafts, and the section A having connection with the harness. The section A consists of a plate 10, preferably semicircular in crosssection, and of any desired length, upon the inner face of which plate three or more preferably three-spaced knuckles 11 are formed, each of which knuckles is provided with a horizontal bore, and the bores of all the knuckles are in horizontal alignment.

The plate 10 maybe secured to the shaft or thill in any suitable or approved manner. For instance, screws or bolts may be employed, passed through the thill and through suitable apertures in the plate, or the bolts may form an integral portion of the plate. The curve of the plate in cross-section is made to correspond with the exterior side contour of the thill.

The section A consists of a central buckle 12, the tongue 13 whereof is removable from the body, the said tongue being provided at its lower end with horizontal side extensions of sufficient length to reach practically from one inner side face of the body to the other, whereby the said tongue is shaped substantially like an inverted T.

At the base of each member of the body of the buckle a rear lateral extension 14 is formed, which extensions are in the form of knuckles, and are of greater length than the knuckles 11 of the plate 10, and the knuckles 14 of the buckle are adapted to enter the spaces between the central and end knuckles 11. Each of the knuckles 14 is provided with a horizontal bore, and a hinge .connection between the buckle 12 and the plate 10 is produced bypassing a pintle 15 through the pairs of the engaging knuckles 11 and 14., as shown in Fig. 1, the said pintle being in the shape of a pinhaving one extremity provided with a longitudinal slot 16 and the opposite end shaped to form an eye 17. The slot 16 in the pintle is made in order that the motion of the shaft as the vehicle is drawn forward may not cause the pintle to work loose from the knuckles. The inner ends of the knuckles 14 or that portion thereof connected with the body of the buckle, are also provided with longitudinally-aligning bores, and when the tongue is placed in position in the buckle the bore of the extension of the tongue aligns the inner bore of the said knuckles 14, and the tongue is held to place by passing a rod 18 through the inner ends of the knuckle and the extension of the buckle-tongue 13, which rod extends some distance beyond each side of the buckle, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

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The extremities of the rod 18 are threaded, as illustrated at a, and upon the said threaded ends metal loops 19 and 20 are secured, the loop 20 being at the rear and the loop 19 at the front portion of the device.

Between the inner end of eachloop 10 and 20 and the contiguous surface of the knuckles 14, forming a portion of the buckle, a spring 21 is coiled around the rod 18, which spring maybe compressed, as desired, by manipulating the said loops 19 and 20. Adownwardlyextending loop 22 is also preferably formed integral with the lower surfaces of the bucklekn'uckles 14, as best shown in Fig. 2.

A device of the character described is attached to the inner face of each of the shafts, the two devices being in horizontal alignment. The ends of the breast-strap 23 of the harness are attached to the loops 19, the ends of the saddle-strap 24 are passed through the buckles l2, and the breech-straps 25 are attached to the rear loops 20, the shaft-strap 26 being attached at its ends to the buckle-loops 22, the latter strap being intended to prevent the shafts from spreading.

It will thus be observed that the whiffletree and traces arenot needed, and that the harness is attached only to the sections A of the devices.

Near the inner end of the plate 10 of each device ascreW-eye 27 is secured to the inner face of the shafts, as shown in Fig. 1, and one end of a cord, rope, or chain 28 is secured to the eye 17 of each of the pintles 15, which cords, ropes, or chain extend rearward in any convenient manner over the dash or at the side of the same, or in convenient reach of the occupant of the vehicle. The distance between the eyes 17 and the inner ends of the pintles 15 is so calculated that when the pintles 15 are drawn rearward and contact with the eyes 27, the slotted ends of the pintles will remain in the bores of the inner knuckles 11 of the section A.

In operation should an animal become unmanageable, the driver or an occupant of the vehicle by grasping the ropes, cords, or chains and pulling upon the same will immediately draw the pintles 15 back to a contact with the eyes 27, and thus release the sections A from connection with the sections A, and as the animalis harnessed to the former sections only, he may escape without injuring the shafts, and the occupant of the vehicle by firmly holding the cords 28, is enabled to prevent the shafts from digging the ground, and may also turn the shafts to the right or to the left, and thereby properly guide the vehicle until its momentum has been overcome.

It will be observed that the rod 18 is capable of horizontal movement in the buckle and tongue against the tension of the springs 21. Thus a compensating movement is obtained equivalent to that of a whiffietree, and danger of chafing the shoulder of the animal is thereby effectually avoided.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent? 1. In a horse-detacher, the shaft-plate 10, having knuckles 11, a longitudinally-sliding pintle, and a buckle having knuckles at its lower end through which said pintle passes, and alongitudinally-extending rod sliding in the lower end of the buckle parallel with said pintle and having tug and holdback connections at its ends, substantially as described.

2. In a horse-detacher, the shaft-plate 10, having knuckles 11, a longitudinally-extending sliding pintle, a buckle 12, having knuckles at its lower end through which said pintle passes, a sliding rod extending through the lower end of the buckle and forming the axis of its tongue, and tug and holdback connections on the ends of said rod, substantially as described.

3. In a device of the character described,

the combination, with a plate adapted for at-- tachment to a shaft of a vehicle, of a buckle hinged to the said plate provided with a removable pintle, a rod held to slide in the lower portion of the buckle, loops upon the ends of the rod, and springs encircling the said rod at each side of the buckle, as and for the purpose specified.

4:; In a device of the character described, the combination, with a plate adapted for attachment to the shaft and spaced knuckles formed upon said plate, of a buckle having knuckles formed integral therewith adapted to enter the spaces between the knuckles 0f the plate, a detachable pintle passed through the knuckles of the plate and the buckle provided with an eye at one end and a slot at the other, a rod held to slide laterally through the buckle, loops adjustably secured to the ends of the rod, and springs encircling the said rod between the loops and the buckle, as and for the purpose specified.

5. In a device of the character described, the combination, with a plate and spaced knuckles formed integral with said plate, of a buckle provided with a detachable tongue and rearwardly-extending knuckles adapted to enter the spaces between the knuckles of the plate, a loop formed integral with the lower portion of the buckle, a detachable pintle adapted to pass through the knuckles of the plate and the knuckles upon the buckle, the said pintle being provided with an eye at one end and a slot at the other, a rod passed through the buckle and tongue thereof and held to slide freely therein, loops adjustably secured at the extremities of the rod, and springs encircling the said rod between the opposed faces of the loops and the, buckle, substantially as shown and described.

DAVID F. SLOAN.

Witnesses:

EDWIN P. Foss, FRANK LEARY.

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